The Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the eighth annual Ambassadors' Conference would be held from Jan. 10 to Jan. 16 in Ankara and Gaziantep under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu with the theme "Crisis Management and Humanitarian Solutions." All Turkish ambassadors serving abroad will participate in the annual conference and discuss various topics related to Turkish foreign policy as well as ongoing issues regarding the humanitarian crisis throughout the region. The conference will begin on Monday, Jan. 10 with a visit to Anıtkabir – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's mausoleum – followed by a visit to the Foreign Ministry cemetery, which is designated for those who served in the ministry and lost their lives – mostly during the 1980s due to the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). ASALA was an armed Armenian militant organization that aimed to re-establish the historical Armenia, which includes what is now eastern Turkey.

The conference will continue with an official opening ceremony that will include an inaugural speech by Çavuşoğlu. According to the Foreign Ministry, a large number of invitees other than ambassadors will attend the conference, including deputy prime ministers, numerous ministers and senior representatives of the government. As the officials are to discuss recent regional and international conflicts and crises that affect Turkish foreign policy, some foreign prime ministers will also attend the conference and hold one-on-one meetings with Çavuşoğlu. The ambassadors will also meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Parliament speaker İsmail Kahraman.The latest developments with Iraq and Russia as well as the EU accession process, which gained momentum recently, will also be addressed in addition to Turkey's efforts to combat terrorist organizations, especially DAESH and the PKK. The program will continue with a visit to Gaziantep where the ambassadors will visit a refugee camp for Syrians who have fled the violence in their home country and DAESH attacks. The visit to Gaziantep will take place on Jan. 15-16. Çavuşoğlu will give a speech at Gaziantep University and then attend the official opening ceremony at the Foreign Ministry office in Gaziantep.